


Of Kisses and Jealousy

by rottnrotty



Series: Draco Malfoy’s Guide to Seducing Your Enemy [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Falling In Love, Hope, M/M, POV Draco Malfoy, POV First Person, Rare Pairings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 19:08:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17648285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rottnrotty/pseuds/rottnrotty
Summary: Ron Weasley is kind, and thoughtful, and he notices what Draco likes.  And Draco fears that this fake dating, bet with Pansy bullshit is going to be the death of him.Probably won’t make much sense unless you’ve read Draco Malfoy’s guide to seducing your enemy.





	Of Kisses and Jealousy

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little piece of my previous story, Draco Malfoy’s guide to seducing your enemy, that I wanted to include but couldn’t get to fit. I thought it was important to Ron and Draco that I publish it (so they could finally stop worrying about Potter).

The offices for Greg’s Construction are fairly modest.Elegant and tasteful, that goes without saying; we are Slytherins after all.Still, many clients are taken aback by the lack of grandeur.Some seem to expect a giant garish display, such as a fountain of the Dark Lord shooting water out of his wand, to decorate our halls.I’m not sorry to see those tossers disappointed.

 

The upside of a modest space is that Greg’s Construction feels cozy and homey.My childhood home was obviously lacking in this regard.Not that I minded at the time.You can’t miss something that you don’t even realize exists.For me, the opulence of the Manor was a huge source of pride, a belief taken directly from my parents.

 

Although Malfoy Manor could be lonely for a child at times, I grew up used to solitude.Sometimes I feel a little lost at work.The constant hustle and bustle of visitors, owls, and employees can be overwhelming.

 

Weasley, on the other hand, seems to love the atmosphere.He dropped by a few days ago to share lunch with Greg, bringing an enormous sack of foodstuffs from a new pub they had discussed.He smiled the entire time, promising to be back in a few days and treat me to ‘something posh and poncy’.

 

Posh and poncy turns out to be beef bourguignon, served with a side salad of crisp greens and a tart vinegarette.“Because you like French stuff, right?” Weasley asks, as he gestures to the food spread out on my desk.I nod, cocking my head at him.How could he possibly know that?“Yeah, I remember during the Tri-Wizard Tournament, you seemed pretty fond of the French additions to our meals.”

 

“I didn’t realize you were so observant,” I mutter.“I thought it was Potter who was tracking my every move.”

 

Ron chuckles as he prepares two plates for us.“Don’t be too flattered.I only noticed because I was watching Krum and Fleur obsessively.Honestly, I hated you at the time for being so confident around them.Amoung other things.”

 

Silence falls as we eat the delicious food Weasley has provided.It feels heavy and oppressive; not the companionable silence of two mates sharing a meal.It must be Weasley’s admittance of hatred towards my younger self.Even though I am aware of his feelings, it still twists my gut a little, to hear it spoken out loud.I had hoped we moved on from such memories.My appetite is flagging in the face of my upset stomach, and I place my utensils primly on my plate, a good portion of my meal untouched.

 

Weasley has obviously picked up on the charged atmosphere, as his shoulders have gone stiff and he is looking resolutely at his plate, shovelling in his beef burgandy mechanically.

 

He sighs, and raises his head, meeting my eyes.“Tell me the truth, were you really that self-assured?”

 

“No, of course not,” I confess, casting my eyes down.This is a big admittance, should I chose to go through with it.No one else is aware that there is doubt behind the Malfoy arrogance.“Krum was an International Quidditch Star, and Fleur was the best looking witch I had ever laid eyes on.I was nervous as fuck around them both.”

 

Weasley cracks a smile, making my un-Slytherin-like declaration of nerves seems worthwhile.“I was raised to act a certain way, Weasley.I can mask my true feelings, and portray the appropriate emotions, when necessary.”I let the corner of my mouth curve up a fraction, before continuing.“You’d never catch me blurting out an invitation to a girl three years older than me.That’s just a lack of common sense, along with terrible presence of mind.”

 

“Oi, that wasn’t my fault!” Ron says with spirit, as he leans forward in his chair.“She was throwing her Veela charms around willy-nilly, I just got caught in the crossfire.”

 

Weasley’s eyes are blazing with intensity, and I am suddenly very glad for the sturdy wooden desk that separates us.“Be that as it may, your self control at Hogwarts was sorely lacking.”

 

He slumps back into his chair, mumbling, “I know, I know,” under his breath.

 

“That’s changed though,” I say, because it is true.Ron never flies off the handle anymore.He’s focused and composed, although still full of fire and passion.

 

“Not really.”He looks embarrassed when I gaze at him questioningly. “I still feel the same, on the inside.Like I’m not good enough.And I second guess myself a lot.I’ve just learned to modulate my reactions better, since starting Auror training.”

 

“That’s literally what I just said, open your bloody ears!” I say, shaking my head at him.“No one feels confident all the time.Sometimes you seem so unflappable, I wonder if you are actually Ron Weasley.”My remarks bring a smile to his face once more.“And for the record, you are ‘good enough’.You are one of the most interesting, entertaining, enjoyable people I’ve ever met.”

 

“Yeah, thanks Malfoy,” Weasley mutters.His face is flushed pink, making his brown freckles even more apparent.I squash the urge to reach across the desk and trace a pattern with my finger.Suddenly his head pops up, and he says with a smirk, “Hermione snogged Krum, you know.The night of the Yule Ball.”

 

I groan and roll my eyes.“Merlin, how could I forget?And she was his ‘thing he’d miss the most’ in the second task.That was creepy.He had a bunch of schoolmates with him, there wasn’t anyone he would miss more than a girl four years his junior, who he had known for a few months?”

 

Weasley’s eyes open wide as he stares at me.“I never thought of it like that,” he says, with wonder in his voice.“I was too busy being a jealous git, feeling sorry for myself that all my secret crushes were getting some action and I wasn’t.”

 

“Well, I lost all respect for him after that,” I say dismissively.

 

“So you never fooled around with Krum?” Ron asks.He picks up his glass and takes a drink.

 

“Nope,” I say, shaking my head.Then I drawl, “buuuttt....I did hook up with one of the other Durmstrang boys. Aksel.”Weasley looks like he’s about to spit out his drink, but he manages to swallow it down, coughing a little.“He was...lacking in the brains department.But Merlin, was he pretty.And fit.”

 

Once Weasley has his coughing under control, he says, almost accusingly, “he would have been a lot older than you.He was of age.Did he take advantage of you?”

 

“What?No!”Fucking Gryffindor Auror.“No, he did not.And before you ask,” I say, cutting him off when I see him open his mouth again, “I am not going into details.Slytherins don’t go around boasting about their sex lives, unlike you kinky Gryffindors.”My ears heat up slightly when I think about Neville and his fake cock.Merlin, that has given me months of wanking material.

 

“I don’t brag about my sex life,” Ron says, rolling his eyes at me.“‘Course, I’d need to have a sex life to be able to brag about it.”

 

Oh sweet Salazar, this conversation has taken an awkward turn.Much to my dismay, Weasley continues, “you’re lucky, you had everything figured out so young.I didn’t realize I was attracted to blokes until after school. And the only guy I’ve ever kissed is Harry. In fact, I’ve only kissed three people in my life.”

 

I want to laugh at Weasley’s assertion that I had everything ‘figured out’.If only he could have seen what a mess I was every time I experimented with another guy.Instead, I do the Slytherin thing.I use Weasley’s distressed state as a way to get more dirt on him and Harry.

 

Don’t judge me.I need to know how deep they run, ok?

 

“What was it like, that time with Potter?” 

 

“I...er...what?” Weasley sputters.Ah, now this is more like the bumbling, uncouth boy I recall from Hogwarts.

 

“I’m just curious how your first kiss with a bloke went,” I say innocently.“The first boy I kissed was the aforementioned Aksel.We had just finished eating in the Great Hall, and he asked me to go for a walk around the lake.He tasted like pumpkin juice and chocolate truffles.He promised to write me, when he returned home, but he never did.”The heartbreak of young love.

 

“Oh,” Ron says slowly.“Ok.I thought...maybe you were just asking, because you were interested in Harry.‘Cause I’ve told you about it a bit, right?”

 

Weasley really is an oblivious git, isn’t he?I close my eyes and take a deep breath to get myself under control.“I’m not.”

 

“Ok,” Weasley repeats, sounding unsure.

 

“Honestly, Weasley, I’m not interested in Potter.I was never interested in him, really, even back in school.I mean, objectively, I could see that he was kind of cute, in a scruffy, dorky, annoying way.But that whole Boy Who Lived thing was just not to my tastes.” 

 

I think about what Ron said, when he first told me about their kiss; how Potter is fucked up and damaged.I find myself feeling sorry for the Saviour.Because I haven’t been totally truthful with Weasley.“Potter and I actually kissed once,” I admit, the words tumbling out in a rush. 

 

Terror clutches at my throat, as I’m thrown back to a time I do my best to avoid thinking about.It happened directly after my trial.I remember it all in vivid, horrifying detail.The terror I felt, as I sat in front of the entire Wizengamot, their faces all frowning down at me.At the thought of losing my friends, my family, my freedom, all in one day.The worst part was, deep down, I knew I deserved it. I was a coward.I was a bully.I was weak, and prejudice, and spiteful.I was all those things, and more. 

 

After the trial, I was alone in one of the Auror offices, waiting to sign paperwork so I could get on with my life.I had just been cleared for community service, thanks in large part to Potter’s testimony.The door opened, and I expected my solicitor.It was Potter.He came into the office, and shut the door behind him, leaning back on it and staring at me, saying nothing.I broke eye contact, turned my back to him, and threw a snarky remark his way.Something like, “I suppose you are here for a thank you”.He strode over and wrenched my shoulder, swinging me around to face him.His right hand was balled into a fist, and I steeled myself for the inevitable punch to the face.Still, it hurt like fuck when it landed, right on my mouth.I was about to turn away again, and escape through the floo, paperwork be damned, when Potter surged forward and kissed me.

 

My heart soared for the first second.This was everything I had ever wanted.Acceptance from Potter.Acknowledgement as worthwhile. Then Potter pulled back, and his face was drowning in emotions.Fear and anger and shame.Self-doubt and anxiety.Nothing good.I wanted to punch him back, in that moment.

 

But as we stood there, panting and staring at each other in shock, I felt no lust for the boy in front of me.I didn’t want a repeat of the kiss, or to explore things further. 

 

I didn’t want Harry Potter. 

 

I wasn’t sure what Potter was feeling.He looked as confused as Neville Longbottom in Potion’s class.He finally broke the silence by apologizing, turning tail, and slamming out of the room.

 

I’ve been staring at my desk this whole time, lost in my memories.When I finally look at Weasley, he’s watching me avidly.“It wasn’t an experience I wished to repeat, if you catch my meaning.”I chew on my bottom lip nervously.“I just...don’t want you to labour under the false impression that I have a crush on Potter.”

 

Weasley gives me one of those pathetic half smiles.You know the one - where the person sucks their lips into their mouth, and it’s sort of like half grimace, quarter wry face, and final quarter actual smile.“Yeah, ok,” he says. 

 

“You don’t believe me?” I demand, my voice coming out high-pitched and broken.I’m not sure why this matters so much, but it does.I want Ron to trust me.

 

“No, I do,” he says, nodding slowly, that ridiculous half smile still on his lips.“It just wouldn’t be the first time someone’s tried to get close to me, as a way to gain access to Harry.”

 

“Idiots,” I bite out.“You’re ten times the man Potter is.”

 

Weasley barks out a laugh.“Not twelve times?” he asks, still chuckling.

 

“No, twelve times would be pushing it,” I say, narrowing my eyes at him.Why do I get the feeling I’m missing something?

 

“Sorry, inside joke,” he says, trying to adopt a serious face.“Just something Harry told Neville once.”

 

Oh Salazar, now I know exactly what he’s talking about.First year at Hogwarts, I can still remember a chunky, timid Longbottom stuttering, “I’m worth twelve of you, Malfoy.”I also remember insulting his intelligence, and Weasley’s poverty.Lovely.

 

“I mean it,” I stress.“I actually spend time with you, in spite of the fact that you are friends with Potter, not because of it.”

 

“I know that.I just get in my own head sometimes, and question people’s motives.”

 

“Not surprising, if you’ve been used in the past.”I smirk at him, a special, private smile.“Poor sods, imagine how devastated they were when they realized they were chasing the least interesting member of the Golden Trio.”

 

“Oh, Harry’s plenty interesting,” Ron murmurs, lost in thought, and my heart plummets. This whole conversation has been a rollercoaster of highs and lows, and I kind of just wish Weasley would leave at this point. 

 

“I’ll have to take your word for it,” I sniff dismissively.

 

“Sorry,” Ron says, one side of his mouth quirking up a bit.“It’s just...I know about you and Harry.About the kiss.”

 

Of fucking course he does.I can just imagine Potter twisting it all around, making me look like a desperate loser.Just a turncoat Death Eater, eager to get in good with the Boy Who Lived.I open my mouth to say something cutting, when Weasley continues, “Merlin, I got so jealous, when he told me.And so angry!Like, uncontrollable raging angry.”Weasley shakes his head.“Then I was hurt, which I had no right to be, given that I was dating Hermione and had not told Harry how I felt.”

 

We lapse into silence.I’m busy pondering just how messed up Potter must be, after the war, to go around kissing Weasley and myself and who knows who else, with no thought as to the consequences.How did that shit not make the papers?

 

“He wasn’t even supposed to like blokes,” Ron continues. “And he certainly wasn’t supposed to like you, particularly in a snoggable sort of way.But it just figured, didn’t it? Rich, spoiled Malfoy gets everything”.I open my mouth to protest, but he sends me another wry smile.“I was still grappling with my attraction to guys, and to Harry, and there the two of you were, just fucking doing it”.

 

“We most certainly were not ‘doing it’,” I say, with a fair bit of disgust.Weasley’s smile widens.“And as I previously stated, it was Potter that kissed me, not the other way around.”

 

“Yeah, I know,” Weasley acknowledges. 

 

I shrug my shoulders and admit, “I still don’t know why.He ran away, looking like I murdered his crup.”

 

Ron laughs out loud at that.“Well, he’d always been a bit obsessed with you, back at Hogwarts, yeah?I mean, maybe I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I’ve already sort of hinted at it.Harry was struggling big-time at the end of the war.His relationship with Ginny was rocky.Harry’s always been shit at talking about his feelings, and they both have tempers worse than agitated Skrewts.I think...I think that Harry was searching for a reason for it all to make sense.To understand why it was so important for him to testify at your trial, for you to be seen as tragic figure.I think he romanticized you, just like I did to him”.

 

It made a weird kind of sense.“Like how I hoped Potter would save me,” I say, and Ron grasps my hand over the desk.“When I was stuck playing along with the Carrows, and doing Voldemort’s bidding, I used to pray to Morgana that Potter remained safe, and liberated us all from the terror we were living.When you all showed up at the Manor...” Merlin, I had never been so terrified.The Chosen One, in the clutches of Bellatrix and my Father.Moments away from Voldemort’s wrath.“...I thought for a moment all hope was lost.Then, miraculously, you all blundered your way out, and my heart soared for a brief second when I thought you’d bring me with you, that I’d finally be safe.”Weasley gives my hand a tight squeeze.His face is screwed up a little, and he looks chagrined.“No, it’s alright.I know I didn’t deserve it, and I could never have been trusted.But I...yeah...I guess I understand how it feels, to build Potter up in your mind a little”.

 

“Thanks, Draco,” Ron says with utter sincerity, stroking his thumb over my wrist.“For being honest with me.”

 

“Salazar,” I reply, slumping back in my seat.“Is acting like a Gryffindor always so exhausting”?

 

“The adrenaline is amazing,” Weasley says, “but the side effects are murder.”

 

I hum in response.We seem to have reached a good place, and although we are no longer holding hands, I can still feel the heat of Ron’s thumb on my wrist, the ghostly trail of warmth sending a matching heat to my chest.“So, you’re no longer jealous of me kissing your wonderful Potter?”I smirk and try to lighten the heavy mood.

 

“No, I haven’t been jealous of that for a while,” Weasley says, his eyes blazing into mine.“But the other way around...yeah, that might be bugging me.”Ron’s flaming gaze drops to the desk, and his ears pink up a little.I take a moment to dissect that last statement.Does he mean...that he’s jealous of Potter kissing me?That he’s thought about kissing me, maybe hopes it will happen?

 

Weasley is standing up, vanishing the remainder of our meal and cleaning up the takeaway trash.His eyes are still anywhere but mine.“I should go,” he mumbles, as he swings on his Auror cloak.

 

“Thanks for coming, Ron,” I say, infusing my voice with emotion.“And for being honest with me, as well”.He nods and steps towards the door.I can’t let him leave like this.“Can we make a pact?”I blurt out.He turns back to me, confusion written on his face.“Let’s agree that neither of us should be jealous of Harry Potter.”

 

Ron’s eyes widen hopefully.“Yeah, let’s,” he agrees with a huge, crinkly smile on his face.The hope in Weasley’s eyes echoes through my body as I allow myself to believe, for the first time, that Ron and I may have a real chance at making each other happy.


End file.
